03 December 2025
4.12 Paul Franz and John Pistelli on René Girard and "Romantic Truth"
Hopkins Press Podcasts
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On today's episode of the Hopkins Press Podcast, Literary Imagination editor Paul Franz introduces the new issue of Literary Imagination, and interviews author/scholar John Pistelli about his new article, "Romantic Truth: Imaginative Authority in the Literary Criticism of René Girard."
Engagement with Girard's work has expanded outside of academic and literary circles in recent years, and his ideas have found purchase in economic and political institutions within the U.S. and around the world. In this discussion, Pistellii and Franz look at ways Girard has become an "oracle of the social-media epoch."
Along with two other pieces in the new issue of Literary Imagination — "The Mysteries of Love: On Alice Munro" by James Tussing and "Poems and Translations" by Victoria Moul — "Romantic Truth: Imaginative Authority in the Literary Criticism of René Girard" will be free to read on Project MUSE through the end of December.
Engagement with Girard's work has expanded outside of academic and literary circles in recent years, and his ideas have found purchase in economic and political institutions within the U.S. and around the world. In this discussion, Pistellii and Franz look at ways Girard has become an "oracle of the social-media epoch."
Along with two other pieces in the new issue of Literary Imagination — "The Mysteries of Love: On Alice Munro" by James Tussing and "Poems and Translations" by Victoria Moul — "Romantic Truth: Imaginative Authority in the Literary Criticism of René Girard" will be free to read on Project MUSE through the end of December.